Hayni made sure to throw a temper tantrum the next morning when her mother came in to wake her. She pulled the blanket over her head and screamed and cried and flailed when her mother attempted to move it, refused to shower, brush her teeth, get dressed, or even eat breakfast, just because she didn't want to go to school and she most CERTAINLY didn't want to be "eaten" by the doctor. Hayni usually jumped up before the sun peeked through the trees, but not today. The child hadn't been happy about the mention of school, stating that school was the place her cousin Angus went to disappear and never came home except on holidays. The mention of a doctor's appointment went beyond merely "not happy" to outright uncooperative, terrified, and likely to make a mess of anything she could get her hands on in protest.

  It didn't take long before Tatiana was fed up with forcibly dragging a screaming child out of bed, scrubbing her by hand, dressing her squirming body, and forcing a toothbrush over her teeth. "Could I get some help here?" Jon looked over from cooking. "Kinda busy. Soon as breakfast is ready I'll help." "okay, just hurry up. We need.....LOOK OUT!" Jon ducked as he saw a child sized shoe flying across the room right into the pot. "Okay, looks like were just down to melons then, because I don't exactly find leather appetizing for breakfast." He removed the shoe and washed it off, handing it back to Tatiana. "I'll go cut up our new breakfast. And don't say I didn't tell you last night it was a bad idea to mention the d.o.c.t.o.r. You should have just left it at school." "I didn't think she was going to flip out over the word doctor" "NOOOOO! I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE DOCTOR!!!!!" "I spelled it out for a reason." Anything further to be said was drowned out by the noise of an irate child, who managed to drop a rather heavy book on her mother's foot, preventing conversation anyway.

  Once the child was dressed, Jon handed Tatiana a slice of melon with mint and sugar and pointed to the couch. She took his advise and went over to rest a few moments as Jon fed the child. He had the child shushed within moments. "Keep fighting and I won't put pixie dust and fairy clovers on your melon for you." Hayni pouted, but quietly stuck her hand out for her melon as Jon put sugar and mint on hers to reward what was hopefully the end of the temper tantrum. "I still won't go to school. They don't let you come home from there. Angus says you have to be really smart and maybe you can go home, but I never see him, and he's really really smart. His mommy always says he is in school."

  Tatiana sighed, shook her head at the mention of the absurd fairy nonsense Jon used to control Hayni, and picked up his discarded newspaper from the night before. She gasped as she saw the front cover. "I FORGOT CURNOLEUM'S DAY!?!?!?" Jon snickered. "Now honey, I.." She cut him off "What about a gift for Angus? And my sister is going to KILL me for missing yesterday's dinner. Why do you have to be a fireman and not something normal? I can't believe you had to work yesterday for the first day of the holiday. NOBODY worked yesterday except YOU!!!" "Your sister" "WILL KILL ME! You have an excuse for not being there, but I DON'T!" Jon took a piece of melon and shoved it into her mouth to shut his wife up for a moment so he could speak. "I already dealt with it. I got Angus a gift last week just in case, and I took the liberty of sending a telegram to your sister yesterday when I couldn't find you explaining there was an accident and you were missing. Just play up some scrapes and bruises and take the sympathy." Tatiana started to speak again as Jon put his hand over her mouth. "And don't worry about what your mother will say. I already said it wasn't your fault, and you were actually walking, not on the bike when it happened." Tatiana relaxed a little. "Now will you chew your food so you don't choke. I need you to help me take care of the kid while I'm at work." "Come on I'm not that bad. I'm grown. You don't n.." This was interrupted by a coughing fit as Tatiana started choking on her still unchewed food. "Told you." She hit him.

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  The idea of Curnoleum's day took Hayni's mind off her impending doctors appointment and the terrors it entailed, so she got into the carriage behind her father's two seated bike with no complaint, being told it was time to go see family. She never noticed her father clasping her mother's mouth shut as she almost mentioned the appointment needed to be dealt with first.

  The parking lot was bare at the doctor's office. Hayni was deeply engrosed playing with a small toy she had in her pocket when her mother spoke up. "Okay, lets get this appointment over with. I'm sure the doctor wants to get this over with too. I bet we are his only appointment for the day and they forced him to take us on any available time, holiday or no." Once the word "doctor" left Tatiana's mouth, Jon glared at her and Hayni jumped off the bike and ran for the woods screaming "NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOO! I WON'T!"Jon jumped off, ran after her, scooped her up mid run and handed the flailing mass to Tatiana. "Did you forget how to spell already? You get to deal with this mess until it calms down now." They walked in and the receptionist covered her ears from the ear splitting shreak that was coming from the monster Tatiana held. She knew this was trouble when the pitch rose higher and higher until a glass vase shattered. Thankful it was the only glass in the room, she ran back for the doctor. "Your only appointment is finally here. Please deal with it quickly so we can both go home for the holiday." "I can hear. And in case you haven't forgotten, I still have a splitting hangover from last night. I am not dealing with anything that can break glass until you drug it." The receptionist reached for a syringe and vial and walked out into the waiting room. She didn't even get the sedative into the syringe before she had a fresh syringe full of her own blood stuck in her arm walking back into the back to bandage. The doctor looked at her. "Ouch. That has to hurt. Didn't think anything could fight that hard. Try the Knock-Out Pops." The receptionist glared at him, bandaged herself up, still bleeding from several places, and took five lolipops from a nearby jar. "I think this is going to need more than one." She quickly downed a cup of willow bark tea to dull the pain from the multiple stab wounds she now had and walked back to the waiting room. Jon got up and took a lolipop from her. "I would suggest going back where it is safe before" A flying chair hit the receptionist across the side of the face before he could finish. "that." The receptionist went back to bandage her now bleeding head as well.

  Twenty minutes later, the child was sound asleep from the Knock-Out Pop her father convinced her to eat. Tatiana was nursing a few bruises, and the doctor came out with a basket full of needles, predrawn with various shots for the child. "Here's the deluxe don't come back with this creature package. I'm going to check her out and give her every shot she needs for the next five years. When she needs to see a doctor for her boosters in five years, don't come looking for me. I will make sure to retire before that can happen. He proceeded to take measurements, weight, blood, tissue samples, x rays, and just about every other measure a doctor can of a child's health, genetics, and background, then every possible immunization and health reinforcement shot he could think of. The last shot came in a larger than normal needle. "What's that?" Tatiana asked. "A discount. If she ever needs to come back to any doctor, they can do anything they need with these nanobots without having to touch her. Don't worry about the price. Its a professional courtesy to the next doctor to deal with this terror, because it won't be me." "Is that it?" Jon asked, looking at the clock. They needed to get to Tatiana's family soon or else there would be a search party. Nobody informed them about the surprise doctor's appointment, and being told about the "accident" the previous day would surely make them anxious to see the three of them. "Yes. Get out of here before she wakes up. Come on, hurry up before I decide to take blood samples from the two of you." He held up an oversized syringe and threatened them with it as they scooped up their child and ran out the door. Jon started up the bike with a smirk. "Well Tatiana, that went well. Its only the fourth pediatrician she's scared off, but its the first that nobody had any broken bones.